Description
Each sculpture has an inset enamel coat of arms seal of the French city of Ouistreham on the base top. Ouistreham is a small port town on the Riva Bella, a stretch of Normandy shoreline, and serves as the port for the city of Caen. It was the site of one of the major landings of the D-Day invasion of Normandy by the Allied Troops in World War II. The assault on Sword Beach, as it was known, was featured in the movie The Longest Day. Inasmuch as the sculptures bear the seal of Ouistreham, they apparently served some type of commemorative purpose; it may be posited that they somehow relate to the activities there in World War II. Each sculpture has the incised mark of R. Brugeat, a foundry in Louvigny, France. Louvigny is a city close to Ouistreham.
Pepito Espin-Anadon is a French sculptor based in Saint-Omer in the Normandy region and working primarily in bronze and marble. He has been exhibiting his work regularly since 1986, mostly in France. He also runs bronze casting and marble sculpture workshops at his studio.
Foundry mark beneath base: “Fonderie/ R. Brugeat/ De Louvigny” within one circle and “Espin-Anadon/ Pepito/ Sculpture” within the other.
Reference:
Epsin Anadon, Pepito. Sculpteur Pepito. http://artpepito.blogspot.com/ (20 August 2014).